It is probably fitting that Colorado has claimed a place for itself near the beginning of the primary season. No state in the Rocky Mountain region offers a November prize larger than Colorado's eight electoral votes and few states in the region are as competitive politically.

Registration in Colorado is divided almost evenly among Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters, so that Democrats do not start as far behind the eight ball as they do in many other Western states.

In the past three years, Colorado Democrats have won a Senate race and a gubernatorial race, something they have done in only one other state in the region (Nevada). And Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton carried Colorado in 1992, the first Democrat to do so since 1964.

Population (1994 estimate): 3,655,647

White 92%

Black 4%

(Hispanic 14%)

Percentage of U.S. population: 1.40%

Growth rate:

Since 1980: 26.5%

Since 1990: 11.0%

GOP presidential wins since 1968: 6 out of 7

1992 presidential vote:

Bush: 40%

Clinton: 36%

Perot: 23%

Registration:

Democrats: 630,431 (33%)

Republicans: 670,949 (35%)

Other: 624,926 (32%)

Still, it takes a certain type of Democrat to win a statewide race in Colorado. While liberal Democrat Patricia Schroeder can build a long House career in the city of Denver, it takes a more moderate "New Democrat" type like Gov. Roy Romer to win a statewide election.

And Colorado Democrats these days do not have a deep bench. Other than Schroeder, their only House member is David E. Skaggs of Boulder, who has decided to stay put next year rather than run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Hank Brown.

In March 1995, Democrats lost their one Senate seat (which they had held since 1974) with the defection of Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Elected as a Democrat in 1992, Campbell switched to the GOP after the defeat of the balanced-budget constitutional amendment, which he favored. "I have always been considered a moderate," he said, "much to the consternation of the Democratic Party."

Campbell's switch could hurt the Democrats in his home base on the rural Western Slope. But the vast majority of Colorado voters live along the Front Range, with nearly half living in Denver and the suburbs that immediately surround it. There, growth issues are front and center as the population continues to boom.

According to Census Bureau estimates, Denver's population increased by 5 percent from 1990 to 1994. Suburban Adams, Arapahoe and Jefferson counties have grown roughly 10 percent. So has Boulder County, while farther out along the Front Range, Larimer (Fort Collins) and El Paso (Colorado Springs) counties have shown population growth of nearly 15 percent since 1990.

The Colorado Springs area is arguably the most conservative part of the state. The Air Force Academy anchors its strong military orientation and myriad evangelical Christian organizations have located there. A controversial anti-gay rights measure on the statewide ballot in 1992 was approved with the help of a nearly 2-to-1 majority in El Paso County.

But the county's unalloyed conservatism has not been felt in recent GOP presidential politics. In a straw poll held in conjunction with the 1988 Republican caucuses, Pat Robertson drew only 11 percent in El Paso County and 9 percent statewide. In the GOP primary four years later, Patrick J. Buchanan won 32 percent in the Colorado Springs area and 30 percent statewide.

President George Bush swept all 63 counties in the state's first-ever presidential primary, with Buchanan reaching 40 percent only in tiny Gilpin County, high in the mountains west of Denver.

The GOP primary in Colorado is not apt to be so unanimous. Party leaders have already split into various camps.

The 1996 Republican vote could be as fractured as the Democratic balloting was in 1992. Then, Jerry Brown tapped the large liberal, environmental wing to win by just 2 percentage points over Paul Tsongas, 29 percent to 27 percent, with Clinton a close third at 26 percent.

By establishing a primary in 1992 on "Junior Tuesday," Colorado created a voice for itself in the nominating process that it did not have before.

Colorado holds a "binding" primary, with delegates chosen through a caucus process to reflect the primary results.

As for voting, the primary is open to registered members of each party plus unaffiliated voters, who automatically become members of the party in which they cast a primary ballot.

Copyright 1996 Congressional Quarterly, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Colorado Primary: The Calendar
• Colorado Primary: Sample Counties